A mum has spoken of her shock after a soft play owner called her a "pathetic excuse of a human" in a Facebook row over a children’s party.

Jemma Agius-Johnson and her mother Julie booked a private party at East Coast Crazy Kids soft play in Southcoates Lane, east Hull, for her family and friends.

Owner Antoni Tuniewicz has since apologised - but stressed he had been inundated with "abuse" from the mum and her family - who he claims started a "smear campaign" after the "genuine mistake" of a double booking was made.

He said he sent the messages after reaching "the end of his tether" and was "fuming" after Mrs Agius-Johnson "begged all her friends to give terrible reviews".

Mrs Agius-Johnson, a mum-of-two, says she often pays to hire the soft play for exclusive use and sells tickets to people she knows because her nine-year-old son - who is suspected to have autism - does not cope well with large groups and her friend's son has ADHD and does not cope well with children he does not know.

Read More

Mrs Agius-Johnson was given the option to cancel her party, however she said she went ahead with it because she did not want to disappoint the children at such short notice.

But on the day, a row broke out, which has since spilled over onto Facebook, with the Mr Tuniewicz calling her "thick" and "pathetic". He also accused her of making money on the tickets she sold her family and friends - a claim Mrs Agius-Johnson denies.

Ms Agius-Johnson said: "When we got there the atmosphere was awkward. The receptionist said she didn’t want any angry parents and I said there wouldn't be, I wouldn't let them be, I'm not that sort of person.

The row spilled onto Facebook

"We went in, parents started arriving, and 30 kids were already in there playing, so the parents were asking where they had come from because they had paid for a private party.

"I said, 'don’t have a go at the staff', and everyone was alright about it and didn't. One parent had a go because there was a group of children from the other party and they were throwing balls, intimidating the kids and scaring them."

Read More

Mrs Agius-Johnson said her mum then got a call from Mr Tuniewicz while they were still at the party, asking her not to be abusive to the staff.

A row broke out after a children's party was double booked at Crazy Kids (Image: Peter Harbour)

She said her and Mr Tuniewicz had an argument over the phone, and then she personally rang him back and also argued with him.

Following the party Mrs Agius-Johnson left a negative review on the company's Facebook page - which has since been removed - and then the arguments spilled over into messenger.

She said: "It's pretty awful really, my mam was in tears. He’s trying to say I’m a bad person, it’s left me more disappointed or upset then anything else. The way he has handled the situation is appalling."

The owner of Crazy Kids called a mum-of-two a 'pathetic excuse of a human'

Mr Tuniewicz has described the entire situation as "crazy" and "unbelievable" and says he cannot understand how it has come to this.

He said he held the parties at cost price because he believed it to be a charity party.

He said: "We didn’t realise a christening had been booked, it was a total oversight, no one realised until a couple of days before.

"She was called to say, 'look, it's happened, we can’t tell a christening to cancel and we can’t tell yourselves to cancel'.